Television Families: Is Something Wrong in Suburbia? . - book review

Adolescence, Spring, 2003

DOUGLAS William. Television Families: Is Something Wrong in Suburbia? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. 197pp. $45.00 (h), $22.50 (p).

Television Families provides a thorough study of television families in the context of family theory and research. Douglas maps the development of the American family on television, assessing the extent to which the television family has changed over time and examining the conjunction between real family life and television family life. Beginning with a look at the popular family in vaudeville, comics, and radio, he chronicles the development of the television family from such early families as the Nelsons (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), Andersons (Father Knows Best) and Ricardos (I Love Lucy), through to contemporary families such as the Huxtables (The Cosby Show), Conners (Roseanne) and Taylors (Home Improvement). In his examination of television families, he offers insights into the tangled relationship between fictional and real family life. He situates television family analysis in a conceptual framework that reflects the day-to-day experience of family life, and considers the portrayals of family relationships, examining how these portrayals differ across time and across groups defined by ethnicity, gender, and age. The relational analysis also considers television family relationships in regard to power and affect, performance, and satisfaction and stability.